Soccer By Ives

Howard and Lloyd named U.S. Soccer athletes of the year

    

                                                                              Photo by ISIphotos.com

It was hard to argue against Tim Howard having been the U.S. national team's best player in 2008 and voters agreed, naming him the 2008 U.S. Soccer male athlete of the year on Thursday.

Howard was one of four players honored by U.S. Soccer on Thursday. Sacha Kljestan earned Young Male Athlete of the Year honors, Olympic final hero Carli Lloyd won Female Athlete of the Year honors and Under-17 standout Kristie Mewis earned Young Female Athlete of the Year.

The award, the first of Howard's career, comes after a year that saw him star for both Everton and the U.S. national team. He posted five shutouts in eight national team matches this year, including his memorable seven-save performance against Argentina in June. He recorded 18 shutouts in all competitions for Everton last season.

Lloyd took home the honor after helping lead the U.S. Olympic team to a gold medal. Her game-winning goal in the final vs. Brazil was one of the top moments of the year for American soccer.

Here is a great video tribute to Howard's impressive year, courtesy of Ussoccer.com:

Your last chance to vote for the U.S. Soccer "Best of" Awards series

In case you haven't had a chance to vote, if in case you didn't realize you can vote once a day until the deadline, here is a reminder that today is the last chance to vote in U.S. Soccer's "Best of" series, honoring U.S. Soccer's best in every category from Best Soccer Bar to Best Soccer Blog to Best Male and Female Athletes.

Get all your votes in while you can.

U.S. Under-20 Women's World Cup Final Live on ESPN2

 

                                                                                   Photo by ISIphotos.com

The U.S. Under-20 women's national team's game against North Korea in the Under-20 Women's World Cup final on Sunday will be aired live on ESPN2 and Galavision at 4pm, U.S. Soccer confirmed on Friday.

The Americans reached the final thanks to a 1-0 victory against Germany while North Korea booked its place courtesy of a 2-1, overtime victory against France.

And sorry to disappoint but there is no truth to the rumor that Kim Jong Il will shotgun a can of Budweiser on the ESPN broadcast ala Alexi Lalas if the USA wins.

Will you be watching? Have you been watching? Think the Americans can cap a great year for the U.S. women's national team program?

Share your thoughts below.

USA Under-20 women reach World Cup final

                                                                                        Photo by ISIphotos.com

Tournament scoring leader Sydney Leroux notched her fifth goal of the tournament to help give the U.S. Under-20 women's national a 1-0 victory against Germany in the Under-20 World Cup semifinals in Chile on Thursday.

Leroux finished off a Nikki Washington cross from close range for the only score of the match. U.S. goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher made two saves for the shutout, helping set up a U-20 final match-up on Sunday against North Korea, which scored a 2-1 victory against France in the other semifinal.

If that final sounds familiar it is because the United States faced North Korea in the Under-17 World Cup final just last month. North Korea won that final, 2-1, in overtime.

What do you think of the result? Have you been following the tournament? Do you think the Americans can knock off North Korea? Will we see some fake photos of Kim Jong Il celebrating if North Korea wins again?

Share your thoughts below.

Hall of Fame vote not an easy one

 

                                                     Photo by ISIphotos.com

Today was the last day to vote for the U.S. Soccer Hall of Fame class of 2009 and when I sat down to fill out my electronic ballot I fully expected it to be an easy process. With the ability to vote for as many as 10 candidates, how tough could it be?

Turns out, much tougher than I expected. For those of you who missed it, 25 candidates were up for nomination. Greats from the U.S. national team, MLS, the NASL and the women's national team were vying for those coveted spots. After last year's voting fiasco, which saw nobody elected because nobody met the requisite voting requirement, you had to figure it could be a big class.

There was a point a while back where I was going to just vote for the candidates who earned the requisite 66 percent required for Hall enshrinement, from SBI voters. Here are the candidates who drew 66 percent from SBI's readers:

• Preki
• Jeff Agoos
• Earnie Stewart

That's it, just three.

I decided I would make my own picks, and once I started to really look at the list of candidates, I realized the decisions wouldn't be easy.

Who gets your Hall of Fame vote?

                                                              Photo by ISIphotos.com

While the presidential election remains a hot topic today, there is another upcoming election that should have American soccer fans extremely interested. Twenty-five former players are on the ballot for induction into the 2009 National Soccer Hall of Fame class and the list is loaded with MLS and U.S. national team standouts.

The list is comprised of 19 former Major League Soccer stars, four standouts from the U.S. women's national team and two former NASL/indoor all-stars. Select members of the media, Hall of Famers, U.S. national team coaches past and present, select MLS coaches and administators from MLS, WPS and U.S. soccer get to vote, but being in the democratic society that we live in, we at SBI are offering you, the fans, a chance to voice your opinion.

Here are the 25 candidates for the 2008 class of the National Soccer Hall of Fame:

Olympic Final: USA vs. Brazil (Your Running Commentary)

The U.S. women's national team has a chance for some sweet revenge, and a taste of gold this morning as the Americans face off against Brazil in today's Olympic women's soccer final.

You may recall Brazil is the same team that roasted the U.S. team, 4-0, in the World Cup semifinals last year. The U.S. team has overcome the loss of Abby Wambach, and a tournament-opening loss to Norway, to reach the final against a Brazil team that will be favored going in.

The game is set for 9am and will be aired on USA as well as the NBC Olympic soccer channel). If you will be at work, or can't watch it on TV, you can watch live streaming video of the match on the NBC Olympic website.

If you will be watching the match, please feel free to share your thoughts, opinions and some play-by-play in the comments section below.

Enjoy the match

Olympics: USA women vs. Japan (Your Running Commentary)

Good morning all. Today marks the Olympic women's soccer semifinal between the United States and Japan (9am, MSNBC) in a rematch of the group stage match won by the Americans, 1-0.

You can watch the action in live streaming video on the NBC Olympic website.

If you will be watching today's match, please feel free to share your thoughts, opinions and some play-by-play in the comments section below.

Enjoy the match.

Olympics: U.S. women vs. Canada (Your Running Commentary)

The U.S. women's Olympic team is taking on Canada today in the quarterfinals of the Olympic tournament. The U.S. team has done a good job of shaking off its opening-tournament loss to Norway, rattling off two wins to win its group and secure a match-up against a Canadian team it has dominated in recent meetings.

If you will be watching the match please feel free to share your thoughts, opinions and some play-by-play in the comments section below.

Enjoy the match.

Olympics: USA women vs. Japan (Your Running Commentary)

Good morning folks. The U.S. women's Olympic team is taking on Japan in what is a crucial match for the Americans after their 2-0 loss to Norway.

If you are watching the match, please feel free to share your thoughts, opinions and some play-by-play in the comments section below.

Enjoy the match.

Olympic Soccer: USA women vs. Norway (result after the jump)

The US women's Olympic team faced Norway in the opening match of the tournament for both teams. If you want to read about the game and discuss it, then go to the jump. If you are still waiting to see the match, then feel free to return here after you have watched the match.

USA vs. Norway: Your Running Commentary

Good morning folks. The U.S. women's Olympic team has kicked off its Olympic Tournament this morning against Norway as it attempts to overcome the loss of Abby Wambach on its way to gold.

If you will be watching the match, please feel free to share your thoughts, opinions and some play-by-play in the comments section below.

You can follow the action on MSNBC and also on the NBC Olympic website, which has live streaming video and live commentary of the match.

Enjoy the match.

Wambach breaks leg, will miss Olympics

                                                                                  Photos by ISIphotos.com

The U.S. women's Olympic team's worst nightmare has happened.

U.S. forward Abby Wambach broke her left leg during the U.S. team's match against Brazil on Wednesday night in San Diego (a 1-0 USA win) and now she will miss the Olympics.

Morning Ticker: Americans to sell Liverpool, Chelsea feuding and Chastain eyes comeback (no really)

Good morning all. Does the gloomy weather have you reaching for another cup of coffee? Here are a few soccer stories to tide you over and help keep you awake (well, except for the third one, which may put you to sleep.)

American owners to sell Liverpool. Tom Hicks and George Gillett are reportedly ready to sell English giant Liverpool just a year after buying the club. Apparently running a soccer team was tougher than they thought it would be. Hey Tom and George, if you REALLY want to own a soccer team there is this opportunity in St. Louis you might want to take a look at.